by Logan Jacobs
“We need to help Dehn,” I told Maruk. The halfling stood in the center of four of the warriors and shouted some taunt I couldn’t make out as he swung his new mace around, but the warriors had begun to close in.
I raised my hand and cast four new clones between them. My intent was to distract the men from Dehn long enough that the halfling didn’t end up impaled on their swords, but almost as soon as the clones materialized, a thwick sounded from the forest, and a crossbow bolt passed through one of the clones’ heads and buried itself deep in the throat of one of the warriors. The archer must have been so surprised to see the clones that he’d shot as a reflex, and from there, the tension unraveled into chaos.
The remaining warriors began to shout in fear and confusion and tried to attack the clones as well, which exploded into blinding bursts of mana when their weapons made contact. Dehn laughed gleefully and began to hack at his opponents’ legs with his sword and smack them with his mace as they tripped over themselves and tried to brush the burning sparks of raw mana from their faces and clothes.
Maruk kept them herded together while Emeline and Lavinia dealt killing blows with fire and arrows, and I turned my attention back to the alchemist.
He had wisely stuck to his hiding spot, but I caught a glimpse of him as he peeked out from behind his tree and cast another clone in front of him. Even from a distance, I heard him hiss in surprise a second before the clone plunged its dagger into his chest, and then our little section of forest exploded.
It was like someone had lit off all the merchandise in a fireworks stand at once. Bursts of colorful fire and rapid sparks like machine-gun fire filled the night, blindingly bright and deafeningly loud. I grabbed Emeline and hit the grass as I threw up a mana barrier to shield us from the fire that rained down over the clearing. I couldn’t say how long it went on, mere seconds or several minutes, but by the time I dared to look up again, it was over.
All the trees within twenty feet of where the alchemist had stood were on fire and the stink of charred flesh and something chemical filled the air. Near a pile of bodies, Maruk stirred with a groan and flung his shield away from his face.
“What in the hells!” Lavinia hissed as she ran up behind me and Emeline. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Emeline answered. It was difficult to hear either of them through the ringing in my ears, but I took it as a good sign that I could hear at all.
“Did you do that?” Lavinia turned to me, awe and excitement in her eyes.
“Not intentionally,” I confessed. “The mana must have reacted with some of his alchemy ingredients.”
“We should find out what,” Lavinia said as Emeline and I got to our feet. “That could come in handy.”
We crossed the clearing to help Maruk up, who had managed to protect himself with his remaining shield when the explosion had gone off and was mostly just upset about the grass stain on his sleeve.
“Oh, this is never going to come out,” the orc moped as he examined the streak of green on the fabric.
“We have got to talk about your priorities,” Lavinia teased as she punched him on the shoulder.
“Where’s Dehn?” Emeline asked, and I got a cold, sinking feeling as I scanned the charred bodies and broken, smoldering trees for any sign of the halfling. Maruk had his shield, and Lavinia had been far back enough not to get hurt, but Dehn would have been completely vulnerable.
We all turned to Maruk, and the orc shook his head as his brow creased with worry.
“He was right there in the middle of those brigands,” he said.
I ran forward and grabbed one of the corpses by the arm to haul it away, but even as I did, another of the bodies twitched. I froze and watched as a tattooed hand shoved up through the twists of charred flesh and smoking leather armor and flung them away, and then Dehn’s head appeared from beneath the pile, his red hair a little singed and snagged with leaves.
“What the fuck!” the halfling shouted as he pushed away another of the bodies that had fallen on top of him.
“I didn’t--” I started, but Dehn didn’t let me finish.
“That was fucking awesome!” He wiped at the ash over his eyes and grinned at us. “Did you see that! I was amazing!”
“What?” Lavinia asked.
“The fucking explosion!” Dehn cried. “I hit one of Gabriel’s little sparkle-people with my mace!” He brandished the weapon proudly. “Then kaboom! Ha! We sure showed them!” He clambered free of the corpses and other smoldering debris and shoved me on the hip. “Good work, mage.”
“Uh, thanks,” I replied. “You, too.”
“That explosion wasn’t--” Maruk started, then sighed, and waved his hand. “Nevermind.”
“How did you survive that?” Emeline asked. “You should be dead.”
“Dead?” Dehn repeated. “Me? Ha! It’s gonna take more than a puny explosion to kill me!” He kicked at one of the corpses. “Look at all these suckers. Pathetic.”
“Alright, then,” Lavinia chuckled as she looked around at the clearing and the colorful flames that had yet to die out in the trees. “Looks like our work here is done. Let’s get that ring and get out of here before the rest of the garrison shows up.”
Chapter 12
We located Janner’s body among the mess and found Hayle’s husband’s ring on a chain around his neck. After Dehn relieved a few more of the dead of their weapons and other items, and we had patched up our wounds, we were ready to go. We worked quickly and had just slipped into the cover of the forest when we heard the first voices from the road, no doubt scouts from the garrison who had come to see what the explosion was about. Dehn wanted to stay and fight them, too, but Emeline and Lavinia managed to distract him by asking him about the loot he’d taken.
“Ugh, I can’t believe you took that,” Maruk groaned as Dehn rattled the necklace he’d taken from Barre, the one made out of assorted teeth. “It’s disgusting. You don’t know where those have been.”
“It’s beautiful,” Dehn replied, “and I don’t care where they’ve been, now they’re around my neck, and they make me look badass.” He jostled the necklace so that the teeth clinked together. On closer inspection, I realized that while most of them seemed humanoid, there were a few fangs and tusks on the cord that definitely belonged to trolls or manticores or creatures just as dangerous. Several of them hadn’t been cleaned very well and had bits of flesh still stuck to their roots.
To stay on the safe side, we kept to the cover of the trees until we were another few miles from the site of the explosion, and by the time we did reach the road again, all that was visible of the destruction that we had wrought were some wisps of smoke, pale against the velvety black of the night sky. We moved quickly and quietly, but no one from the garrison pursued us, and by the time the eastern horizon began to take on shades of periwinkle and rose, the high white walls of Ovrista were visible in the distance.
“We should go straight to the university,” Emeline said. “I’m sure Professor Hayle will want to hear from us right away.”
“That sounds good,” I agreed, though in truth, setting Professor Hayle’s mind at ease wasn’t my top concern. Mostly, I didn’t want us to arrive back at the guild hall while the others were still there. We’d be sure to get an earful from Aerin if, after all of our promises to be careful, we showed up bruised and bloody with our ears still ringing a little from the explosion we had caused.
It was still early when we reached the city gates and made our way up the quiet streets to the shining spire of the Arcane University Tower. With the soft hues of dawn in the backdrop, it was almost pretty, but as soon as I got close enough to see my own reflection in the mirrored panels that covered the sides, the illusion was broken, and all I could think about was how many eyes were on me.
Inside the tower was clean and cool and empty. At least, for the most part. There were always a few students out and about whatever the hour, busy with their studies and their projects. The pair who were seated on the
couches in the lobby with steaming cups of tea watched us sleepily as we passed and started up the stairs.
“Will this Professor Hayle even be awake?” Maruk asked with a yawn. He was the only one who hadn’t been in favor of us showing up so early.
“Probably,” Emeline replied. “Anyway, I’m sure she’d want to be woken up for something like this, and we’ll get another lead on the Shodra.”
I took the ring on the chain that I’d gotten from Janner out of my pocket. It didn’t look like much, just a simple gold wedding ring in need of a good polish, but I knew its true value was sentimental, and I agreed with Emeline. It was better to get it back quickly.
The panthera mage led us through the maze of hallways with their deep purple carpet runners and the silver magelights that glowed in decorative lanterns along the walls until we reached a door with a nameplate that read A. C. Hayle. Emeline rapped out an eager knock and rocked back on her heels with a broad smile.
There was some shuffling from behind the door, and then it swung open and an elderly mage peered out at us. Her gray hair was braided down her back, and she had a thick robe wrapped around her shoulders against the morning chill. It took her a moment to register who we were, but then her blue eyes went wide and her expression was hopeful as she ushered us inside.
Like with Murillo, Professor Hayle’s office was also her living quarters, and I glimpsed her bed behind a curtain on the wall. The rest of the room was sparsely furnished and tidy, though the shelves were stacked with books and scrolls to the point that the boards sagged, and the professor’s desk was cluttered with papers and books.
Aside from the desk chair, there was only a single armchair in the room, so we all remained standing in the center of the room while Hayle closed the door behind us and then rushed forward to greet us.
“Did you find them?” she asked urgently, any lingering sleepiness gone as she clasped Emeline’s hands in her own. “Did you find Janner and the others? Did you find my husband’s ring?”
“We did,” the panthera mage replied in a gentle tone. “Janner and his friends are dead.”
“And we have the ring,” I said as I offered it to Hayle. At once, the professor swept over to me, and there were tears in her eyes as she took the ring and held it close to her heart.
“Oh,” she sighed and rubbed the ring against her thumb. “Thank you, Shadow Foxes. You don’t know what this means to me.”
“Just doing our jobs,” Lavinia said. “If I’m not mistaken, you said you knew something about the Shodra?”
“Lavinia!” Maruk chided under his breath. “She’s having a moment.”
“Well, we don’t need to be here for it,” the ranger responded in a low voice.
“Yes, I do believe I have some information that might help you, Shadow Foxes,” Hayle said. She slipped the ring into the pocket of her robe and strode over to the desk where she rifled through the pages there until she’d found the one she was looking for and brought it over. It was a map, and the professor had drawn an X over a lake in the west and scribbled some annotations in the margins. “I’m afraid I haven’t been able to make the journey to confirm the location for myself, but I have heard that there is an item with unique magical properties located on the central island of Lake Geru, here. I believe it could be one of the Shodra.”
I took the map and examined it more closely. There didn’t seem to be anything special about the lake or the surrounding region, but I reflected that the village where we’d found the gemstone hadn’t seemed special at a glance, either. I had another question, though.
“If you knew the Mage Academy was looking for the Shodra, why didn’t you report this earlier?”
Hayle’s face flushed to the tips of her pointed ears, and she looked at the floor.
“I was frustrated that I couldn’t avenge my husband,” she said quietly. “I know it was selfish, petty even, but I suppose keeping this information to myself was some small revenge against the archmages since they refused to give me leave before.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Lavinia give Maruk a clear I-told-you-so look.
“Besides,” Hayle went on, “I don’t think they would have taken me seriously. There’s a legend that says the dagger was hidden in water, but the original text is in Old Elvish, and most of the scholars here prefer other interpretations.”
“Why is that?” I asked. I felt suddenly wary.
“Lake Geru has something of a reputation,” Hayle admitted. “It used to be the site of an ancient Elven dynasty, thousands of years ago. It is said that when human kings tried to claim the lake and the land for themselves, the elves’ mages put a curse on the place. Even now, no one goes there. Humans will say that the soil is poor for farming and that the lake is dead, any excuse to leave it alone and try to save some face, I suppose.”
“So you’re saying the super powerful magical knife we need is hidden in a super cursed lake?” Lavinia asked. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“Do you believe there’s a curse?” I asked Hayle.
The professor hesitated and fiddled with the hem of her sleeve.
“I... cannot say for sure,” she replied at last. “The Academy stopped allowing anyone to go there long before I was born, so I’ve never actually been there myself, but, well... if even the Mage Academy wants nothing to do with the place, you can be certain that it is dangerous, curse or otherwise.”
“Wonderful,” Maruk muttered.
“Thank you for your help, Professor Hayle,” I said sincerely, and she nodded.
“Thank you, too, Shadow Foxes,” she replied. “I do wish you the best.” Suddenly her eyes lit up, and she rushed to get a book from the top of her shelves and pressed it into my hands. It was ancient, with a frayed cover and delicate, yellowed pages that barely clung to the binding, but the cover was embossed with golden designs. “This is the book that gave me the hint about the knife,” Hayle said. “Take it with you, it may be useful.”
“Thanks,” I said, “but we don’t know Old Elvish.” I knew that even Aerin only spoke a little of the modern elven dialects.
“I’ve translated many of the sections,” Hayle said, “and I’d feel better if you had it with you. Perhaps you’ll run into someone who can help.”
I nodded and tucked the book carefully into my pack.
“I will pray to the gods for your success, Shadow Foxes,” Hayle said warmly, and we thanked her and left to return to our guild hall and plan the next stage of our mission.
Chapter 13
Aerin, Lena, and Yvaine were already gone for the day by the time we got back to the guild hall, and I was secretly relieved that we'd have some time to get cleaned up before they returned. Of course, we'd have to come clean about the details of our mission eventually, but I knew it would go over a little better with Aerin if we didn't all look half-dead when we told her about the unexpected dangers we'd faced. Even so, I expected the healer wouldn't let me out of her sight for at least another two weeks. Though, if I was being honest, I couldn't say I minded being the center of such a beautiful woman's attention.
After I'd bathed and changed, I decided to look over the book that Hayle had given us and see if there was anything in the text that could help us prepare for whatever lay in store for us at Lake Geru, and after a few minutes, Emeline joined me in the sitting room downstairs. I was glad the panthera mage was there because while Hayle had translated sections of the Old Elvish text like she'd said, the professor’s looping scrawl was just as indecipherable to me as the elvish script. Emeline was better at making sense of it, and she read Hayle's translations aloud while I took notes of my own.
"Here's the part about the curse that Hayle told us about," Emeline said as she traced her finger lightly over the page. She was tucked up between the armrest of the couch and my shoulder with the old book balanced on her knees. On the right-hand page was an illustration of a wide lake with an island in the middle. A castle rose up from the island, all narrow spires and g
ently tapered edges, like it had been crafted out of icicles. On the left-hand page, the flowing elvish script that looked more like trailing branches and leaves than letters was interspersed with Hayle's notes in a slanted cursive that floated above the page, literally. So as not to damage the ancient book, the professor had used some sort of magic that made her additions hover above the page like holograms. I made a mental note to ask her about the process later and shifted my focus back to the task at hand.
"What does it say?"
"It talks about the human invasion and the final battle between the elves and humans. The human armies had laid siege to the island, and the elves were starving. They knew they would die, but they didn't want to leave their home." Emeline's voice became hushed and somber. "As their final act, the elven mages cast a curse over the place to keep the humans out," she went on. "They recorded the spell here, I think, or part of it, but it's not like any incantation I've ever heard of."
"How so?"
"It's more like lines from a poem or something. Well, let me just read Hayle's translation." Emeline's brow furrowed in concentration. "'Land and water shall rebel, ancient power feeds the spell.' And Hayle's written here that she thinks that ancient power might be the knife, one of the Shodra. She wrote that there was a legendary blade that belonged to the elf queen, and she thinks they're the same."
"Maybe," I said. "Does it say anything else about what the curse is or what might happen to us if we go there?"
Emeline scanned the page, then flipped forward and looked over the others before she shook her head.
"That's the last part about Lake Geru," she said. "The rest is different periods of elven history."
For a few moments, we sat in silent contemplation, and I studied the illustration of the castle in the hope that it might reveal some other secret to me. Before it could, however, the front door opened and Aerin, Lena, and Yvaine filed in.
"You're back!" Aerin rushed over as soon as she saw us and began to look me over for any signs of injury. "Did anyone get hurt? How did it go?"
